Protection From Pornography Week, 2003
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Pornography can have debilitating effects on communities,
marriages, families, and children. During Protection From Pornography
Week, we commit to take steps to confront the dangers of pornography.

The effects of pornography are particularly pernicious with respect
to children. The recent enactment of the PROTECT Act of 2003
strengthens child pornography laws, establishes the Federal
Government's role in the AMBER Alert System, increases punishment for
Federal crimes against children, and authorizes judges to require
extended supervision of sex offenders who are released from prison.

We have committed significant resources to the Department of
Justice to intensify investigative and prosecutorial efforts to combat
obscenity, child pornography, and child sexual exploi-ta-tion on the
Internet. We are vigorously prosecuting and severely punishing those
who would harm our children. Last July, the Department of Homeland
Security launched Operation Predator, an initiative to help identify
child predators, rescue children depicted in child pornography, and
prosecute those responsible for making and distributing child
pornography.

Last year, I signed legislation creating the Dot Kids domain, a
child-friendly zone on the Internet. The sites on this domain are
monitored for content and safety, offering parents assurances that
their children are learning in a healthy environment. Working together
with law enforcement officials, parents, and other caregivers, we are
making progress in protecting our children from pornography.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 26 through
November 1, 2003, as Protection From Pornography Week. I call upon
public officials, law enforcement officers, parents, and all the people
of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs and
activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth
day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-eighth.